Question NW2770 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
25 August 2015 - NW2770
Madisha, Mr WM to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Whether his department (a) studied the latest reports of the Auditor-General in respect of municipal councils and (b) has taken any actions against municipalities that transgressed the Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003, either by sidestepping its provisions or blatantly acting in defiance of the specified Act and/or in any way negating its prescripts; if not, why not; if so, (i) which municipalities did he act against (ii) in what manner and (iii) to what end?
Reply:
(a) Yes, the department has studied the latest report of the Auditor-General in respect of municipalities.
(b) The Minister cannot directly take any action before a municipality is given time to do so as prescribed in the Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003 (MFMA). The Minister has, however, initiated the following measures:
(i) Introduced an item in the MinMEC meeting’s agenda, whereby the MECs report on how municipalities, in their respective provinces, are performing on the five pillars of Back to Basics (B2B), which if not performed will result into issues in the audit reports.
(ii) Giving special attention to the fifty (50) municipalities that received disclaimed audit opinion, with particular emphasis on 25 disclaimers in the past five consecutive years.
(iii) Partnering with the National Treasury to roll out the Financial Management Capacity Maturity Model to understand gaps to ensure support measures are targeted and customised accordingly.
(iv) Ensure that the competency regulations are complied with.